Renovare launched Music for the Soul, a weekly strings class at the Northeast Reintegration Center (NERC) in March of 2022. The women have put in so much hard work and dedication to learn how to play violin, viola, or cello and we are excited to share that they performed their second concert last month!

Learning to play a string instrument is not an easy feat. The dedication and discipline these women have demonstrated is incredibly inspiring and admirable.

Because NERC is a reintegration center there is more turnover in residents than we’ve had in our class at the Grafton Correctional Institution. Since the inception of Music for the Soul some of the ladies in our program have gone home, and others have had the opportunity to participate in outside work programming. As a result some ladies have been with us since day one of Music for the Soul, and others started just a few months before this performance. It’s amazing how quickly those who joined more recently have made progress on their instruments! The performance last month was a beautiful mix of music that even the newest program member could perform, as well as music that only those who have been part of the program since the beginning could perform.

A few more women will be going home soon, so we gearing up to start another new cohort this summer!